The Persistence of Memory
by Laryna6
Summary: DS2. Yamato isn't certain what makes him yearn for Hiro so. Hiro is fairly certain Yamato doesn't know what it sounds like when he uses words like yearning to describe their relationship, even though this is at least his second time around. Hiro/Yamato/Anguished One
1. Chapter 1

"It's a secret," was what Hiro said when Yamato asked him why his skill was so much greater than any of the members of Yamato's own staff, forget the average civilians. The other civilians requited by JPs were also unusual. There was an explanation for some of them: Keita Wakui, Airi Ban and Jungo Torii had all been orphaned at various ages. Yamato knew the deaths of his parents in the defense of Japan had affected him, even though he hadn't spent much time with them before that and no longer remembered their faces. They must have worked hard and learned to fight for themselves instead of relying on the protection and patronage of others, in the same way Fumi's ambition had overcome her poverty.

Yamato put his head on his hands as he thought, white hair and pale skin making him appear ghostlike in the black uniform with dark gold trim of the head of JPs. It was a useful effect that reminded others of his spiritual power.

Yet Hiro's background seemed perfectly ordinary, aside from the fact that he had lived apart from his family for the past few years, sharing an apartment in Aoyama in order to attend a high school that seemed to be prestigious by the standards of these things. Was that a sign of ambition, something that had forced him to also become self-reliant?

It was one of his companions that had crashed the truck into Dubhe, so why had Yamato attributed the destruction of the septentrione to Hiro even before the buffoon opened his mouth and made it clear that there had been no plan behind the action, just reckless desperation?

There hadn't been any time to question Hiro further, not when it was almost time for the Megrez meeting, but why was he planning to let the civilian choose which team he would fight with, instead of assigning him to one of the two which needed a fourth member? Especially when the four-person Team Tokyo already had Makoto Sako to take charge? She was the head of the capital's division of JPs for good reason.

Even though he wanted to think that he had foreseen Hiro's importance, recognized a kindred spirit the instant he saw him, at first he had dismissed them as inconsequential… Yes? He'd wanted to imprison them in order to keep civilians from abusing the power of demon summoning (useless, in retrospect: the Nicaea summon app had spread like a computer virus). Yet, why not simply smash their cell phones? That was the policy Hiro had set for dealing with rogue tamers: Yamato hadn't given an official set of orders after JPs staff started ignoring his initial set of orders to eliminate them because it made sense, after all. Yes, they could get another cell phone, but the strong should and would survive: having strong demon tamers out in the civilian population meant that they could bear some of the burden of fighting demons and dealing with Megrez's buds. They _should _protect themselves if they wanted to be worthy of JP's protection.

Of the Hotsuin clan's sacrifices for the sake of this corrupt nation.

Why was Hiro so special? Why was Yamato pleased by Hiro's… not so much offer as statement that he would tutor Yamato in civilian things? Yes, Hiro must have superior taste… Yet why would he think that? He'd learned that just because someone was competent in one area didn't mean they weren't a complete fool in all others.

And yet… What was it that he sensed from Hiro? What was it he felt when he looked at him?

Yamato knew that if there was something about Hiro, he wasn't the only one who realized it. The administrator of Nicaea, who must be the fallen septentrione Alcor. Why had he made contact with Hiro? Floating in like that and displaying his inhuman power: had he intended to attract Hiro's interest? Did he want to use Hiro's strength the way he'd used the Hotsuin clan?

Yamato would never allow it, he knew, baring his teeth. Never. Hiro was the closest thing to an equal he had ever encountered: if Yamato hadn't been certain Hiro wasn't related to any of the four great summoner clans he might have assumed that was why Hiro already had such powerful demons instead of it being the fruit of his own effort. His own intelligence, equal to Yamato's own and not merely in a limited area, like Fumi Kanno. An excellent tool for research, but she had interest in little else. Yamato respected that: she had her own ambitions and refused to be used for that which did not advance her own interests.

Despite that, Yamato had never yearned to have her by his side, and if she left or was killed now it would be an inconvenience, no more. Why did he feel this attachment to Hiro, as though he was certain Hiro's strength was the equal of his own, as though they were brothers-in-arms?

Brothers-in-arms… Yes, he could see Hiro's skill on the battlefield personally. Assign Fumi to Otome's team, and place himself under Hiro's command? Of course, he could overrule Hiro's orders and regain control whenever he liked, he promised himself.

Was it his imagination or did Hiro look a little curious when he _wasn't _left out of the assignments, but instead placed as head of the Nagoya team, along with Otome and Makoto? Did he smile as though his question had been answered when Yamato listed himself among the members of the Nagoya team? Yamato was sure Hiro looked satisfied now, but was that just because his question had been answered or because he was looking forward to fighting alongside someone of Yamato's strength instead of having to carry the weight of the other members of his team?

Makoto and Daichi's reactions showed that the normal JPs _and _civilian reaction to Yamato placing himself under another's command was surprise. More proof that Hiro was special. Why wouldn't Yamato respect the power and strategic skill of someone as strong as Hiro? It was only right. Then again, both of them were products of the former world, the one that trampled on and suppressed the potential of the strong, so that explained it. Their contrast with Hiro was yet more proof that Hiro was a kindred spirit.

Among the cheers after the operation's success was confirmed, Yamato noticed that Hiro was looking at him specifically. This pleased him so much that he just smiled smugly instead of glaring at Airi Ban when he caught her staring at him. Whatever the civilian thought she was looking at… Ah, she was jealous that Hiro obviously saw Yamato as more worthy of his attention than she was. That explained it. The desire of the weak to force the strong to labor for their own benefit: she could recognize Hiro's potential, at least. Still, seeing the potential in others was one form of strength, and she had been quick to join JPs. As long as she didn't attempt to monopolize Hiro's time, he wouldn't take any steps to make it clear which of them was superior and thus more worthy of Hiro's company by putting her in her place.

When he heard knocking on his door after the operation, he found himself feeling pleased instead of annoyed, because now he had the hope that it might be Hiro instead of yet another incompetent JPs member with yet another useless report or request for Yamato's time.

He scowled when it was Fumi who opened the door, only for the expression to instantly be replaced by a smile when Hiro came in behind her.

Yamato didn't even notice Fumi's amusement. "What is it, Hiro?"

"Assigning me to a team: that's the first thing that didn't happen last time."

Last time? "What do you mean?" Yamato glanced at Fumi, who shrugged. Hiro had just asked her to come with him to see Yamato.

"Last time," Hiro repeated himself. "This has all happened before. All of us defeated Polaris and made him put the world back, after we agreed that was the better option and that we were going to change the previous world to make it more in line with your ideals," Hiro added, leaving out all the stuff about how he'd had to kick Yamato's ass first and saying 'your' ideals instead of 'our' ideals. This was Yamato, after all, so if he got the idea Daichi or Ronaldo had seduced Hiro away from him, he might start trying to kill them earlier than last time: that was only one reason Hiro hadn't said anything until now. "After the battle, I woke up at home, went to the entrance exam and aced it just like last time, Daichi introduced me to Nicaea, which proved that he didn't remember what happened before… and then the death clip came, the earthquake happened and the summoning app downloaded itself into my phone, along with the demons I used to beat Polaris. Despite my data already being in their system, Tico didn't remember me, and obviously neither does Alcor."

Yamato leaned forward over his desk. "Alcor?" Hiro knew that name?

"Alcor. The Lifespan Star, companion star to Mizer, the Anguished One, the guy who programmed Nicaea to give us the power to survive, after giving us fire and language and giving you and your ancestors the power and knowledge to protect Japan. That Alcor. The 'weird guy' you haven't been answering my questions about."

"Nicaea was created by a septentrione?" Fumi interjected, smiling. That explained so much about how the demon summoning program interfaced and generated data out of magnetite like that.

Hiro nodded. "Yes. He's also the one who kidnapped you and used you to get at the file containing Yamato's plan for the revival of the world. He probably had you do a few other things too, but that was the one that mattered." Hiro shrugged. "After that, he tried to kill you, Yamato, by damaging the Terminal control at the tower, trapping you in Sapporo so you'd die when Alioth fell. He still sent me Otome's death clip so that I had warning and could stop one of his demons from assaulting the tower."

"Alioth… fell?" And why would Yamato be in Sapporo? He'd pulled all of JPs out of the city except for a token tower guard since it didn't really matter except as a distraction for the septentriones.

"Later," Hiro told him. "Well, the one thing that does matter about Alioth now is that Alcor is the one who gave me the hint that let me figure out how to defeat him. I know you have a grudge against him now, but last week, you forgave him after we killed him."

Yamato smiled, ignoring the 'forgave him' part for now. "We killed him?"

"Yes. We did. He said that it was his last duty as a septentrione, to die to open the path to Polaris for us. He wasn't trying very hard: if Betesnach could jam the summon app, Alcor could at least have made it display incorrect data, or not made himself a form that was weak to physical." If Alcor hadn't been a friend, Hiro could have described what happened as 'Hinako bitch-slapped him into next week.'

"Jammed the summon app?" Fumi asked, even more intrigued now. How would that work?

"You made Trumpeter cancel out the waves by hitting him over the head with a few laptops," Hiro said shortly, because that wasn't the point. "Look, the point is that having Polaris edit the world for us won't work. We beat him fair and square, proving our strength and that we had a good plan, and then instead of starting the next day in the timeline of our new world, he hit the delete button again." Hiro clearly had a guess why, but he waited to see what Yamato and Fumi came up with.

"Of course," Yamato realized, clenching the fist that was hidden behind the top of his desk.

"Will you tell me what it is that you know this time?" Hiro asked, sounding a little annoyed, and Yamato remembered all the times _this _time that Hiro had asked him about the strange man and Yamato had brushed him off, saying that it wasn't important for Hiro to know that. Yamato knew _he _hated to have others decide what the important information was: he shouldn't have treated Hiro like he was an ordinary civilian.

"Alcor was Polaris' sword, the most powerful of the septentriones. He gave humanity various tools, and he gave my family power. Alcor thought that it was because of humanity's decadence that Polaris set out to destroy us, but the bottom line was that we 'deviated from Polaris' plan because of him.' What if it wasn't the corruption of the old world that made Polaris try to destroy us, but our power? When it was the power of our wills to make our own decisions that attracted Alcor's attention to us in the first place? Polaris was the one who created the old world, the one where the weak trampled upon the strong!" Of course it was a reflection of Polaris' true nature! Why hadn't Yamato realized this before?!

Hiro nodded, looking pleased with him: Yamato thought that meant that Yamato's theory agreed with Hiro's. Actually, Hiro had hoped Yamato would come to this conclusion, since it meant that Yamato's world of merit, a world of the strong, couldn't happen without first getting rid of Polaris. Hiro could avoid a lot of hassle this way.

"If he is the most powerful of the septentriones, could we use him as a replacement for Polaris?" Hiro asked Yamato. "By the end of the week, there won't be much world left at all: unless Fumi can figure out how to program the Akashic Record from the summon apps, we need _somebody_ to make us a new one, and Polaris can't be trusted."

"Possibly," Yamato looked thoughtful. "But there's no way he'll agree to it."

"Why not? He seems to care about the human race: he was trying to help us get stronger so we could survive," Yamato, "and follow our own ambitions," Fumi.

After fighting for his survival alongside these people for a week, he knew exactly where their buttons were and how to hit them. It would be kind of unfair to manipulate them like this if it weren't for the fact that the world was at stake.

"What he claims to value about mankind is our free will. Perhaps… It is a kind of strength to choose our own fates, defying the plans others have for us," Yamato thought aloud. "It's a strength he envies us: I know that. He won't go along with anything that he sees as limiting our free will, even if it's to allow us to make good decisions." Like putting the strong and suitable in charge instead of the unworthy suppressing them, enslaving them. As Polaris had created Alcor, presumably a strong warrior, a good sword, to serve him?

"He called Airi 'Child of Possibility' and protected that place for her after she decided that she could choose another ambition, find something else to live for," Hiro remembered. "I think you're right: it was the Ticos that thought Polaris couldn't be trusted: what made Alcor try to kill you was that you wanted to take advantage of Polaris' destroying humanity to try to edit us to follow the world of merit, taking away part of our free will. Wait, was it him or someone else who said that all of our ideas of right and wrong were edited into our worlds? Even if that's true, since there's so much difference between Ronaldo's ideals and yours, humans have a lot of freedom to choose our ideals as well as our purposes… That's right, he specifically said purpose. That we could choose our reasons to live and that was impressive. You said he was Polaris' sword?"

Yamato nodded. "The final septentrione, the one who guards the door to Polaris."

"So, if he couldn't choose his purpose, then even after Polaris kicked him out and put him to sleep, he still had to bar our way to Polaris? All the freedom he had was the freedom to do a bad job at his purpose? Be deliberately weak since it wasn't a purpose he believed in? He _had _to try to kill us, after all the work he did to help us survive?" Hiro's eyes widened in shock and revulsion. "…No wonder he didn't like the idea of doing anything like that to anyone else. Of making _us _like that. If we had to obey the strongest, and the strongest was Polaris…"

"We'd have ended up like Alcor. The servants of a master like that…" Yamato scowled with hatred. All his efforts, playing right into that thing's hands! "Alcor set the Hotsuin to guard Japan with their lives. Is that why I forgave him as he died protecting a master unworthy of that sacrifice? Because I realized that we were the same?" That Alcor was the same as his parents, although at least Yamato had the freedom to rebel, to try to replace Japan with a better nation, a better world?

"That would make sense, but there wasn't time to ask," Hiro told him. "And it looked like something private, but your guess would be better than mine." As to what Yamato's own reasons had been. "No one else has done anything at all differently until what you did earlier. So I was hoping that I might jog your memory."

Yamato hated to disappoint him, but, "The only thing that might be a sign of buried memories is my fascination with you. If you were responsible for our success the previous time…"

"You also said that you saw potential in me from the beginning last time," Hiro said, looking skeptical, "but then, we don't know that this is the second time. What if last time was the second time, or the third? What if we keep beating Polaris, and then he keeps deleting all the new data, the data that contains such strong humans that are capable of beating him, including his own memories, and then starts deleting the world all over again? For all I know, I might have years of experience fighting demons and septentriones and just can't remember it." Hiro winced at the thought. "There were a handful of powerful demons in my summon app last time, but I just thought they were a gift from Alcor to help me survive, since I'm… Why does Alcor call me the Shining One, anyway? Why is he so certain that I'm the one who can change fate, the one he sends Otome's death clip to? The only other person with a special name is Airi."

"The death clips… There might be our answer," Fumi thought, intrigued. "If everything's data, would that include the future? If Polaris was able to restore the world, then maybe it wasn't deleted all the way: the data might be in backup. If that's the case, wouldn't the data of previous iterations be in backup too?"

"Megrez!" Hiro realized. "Alcor said earlier that Megrez surfaced because he sensed _my _efforts to destroy him." So it wasn't just Alcor, but at least one more septentrione that noticed something special about Hiro.

"So the septentriones are aware that you're a threat, even if not consciously aware, because they are creatures of the Akashic Record and your data is still in their system, in backup? Interesting-Ah ha!" Yamato grinned. "Alcor: he also was rejected and cast out by Polaris, discarded for his rebellion the way Polaris wants to get rid the threat we pose. So he would be more aware than the others of the power and potential of humanity, the power to defeat his master, since he is linked to this fate of ours… The fate of his new master?" Yamato wondered, examining Hiro with a deepening predatory smirk of delight that would have worried Hiro if he knew that only the approval in it was targeted at him. Yamato wasn't seeing Hiro as prey, but as a fellow hunter. "If Alcor's fate was like that of the Hotsuin, if he was created to fight and die to defend his master, and yet he's been of service to humanity as well as Polaris, given you the summon app, a weapon with which to fight and the knowledge to defend our world…"

"…Maybe he doesn't have to be _Polaris' _sword_." _

Yamato only grew more delighted when Hiro caught on so fast.

"It was your ideal that bothered him, not so much Ronaldo's. Maybe he didn't want humanity to be ruled by the strong without any protections against the strong deciding to be cruel and unfair," the way Yamato wasn't cruel towards JPs, "because that's the way he exists."

"So, if we were to defeat him, to prove our strength and prevent him from escaping to the freedom of death…" Yamato continued the thought, and yes. This was why Hiro was so special to him. Hiro could keep up with him.

And he did. "He can replace Polaris for us. We can definitely be sure that _he _won't break his word and abuse his power, not when he has so much reason to hate people who abuse their power. He won't try to make us conform to a purpose, not when he knows what that's like. He really regretted what he did to your family: he didn't mean to make them like him."

"At least we could choose our fate: choose to fight for this country. At least I could try to create a better nation when I saw that this one wasn't worth all of our service. I wonder if that's why he's sought you out? Why he's given you special information and power?" Knowledge was power. "Is he trying to prove his worth to you? Yearning for you to become his new master?"

"Tico said that his fondest wish was that I would work together with his master. If the AI he created think in terms of masters, that's more evidence that Alcor does. They call us, 'Master Hinako,' and so on."

"Really?" Yamato hadn't had much contact with his after activating the app. In retrospect, it made sense that the Tico wouldn't want to have anything to do with its master's enemy, even if the app still functioned for Yamato, even if he was still drawing on Alcor's knowledge for power.

Hiro nodded. "The trouble is getting him to hold still." Hiro sat down casually on the edge of Yamato's desk. "I feel like I've known all of you my whole life, but Alcor's… definitely not human. He likes being treated like he's a normal person, and he's very… Lonely," Hiro finally decided. "He feels guilty and he's worried that we're being erased because of him, that it's him disagreeing with Polaris about our worth and nurturing our independence that made Polaris decide to destroy us – and I guess that's right, because he helped us get stonger – but even though he was cast out from the others, I can't manage to get him to stay around and talk the way I can everyone else."

"Well, if it's a seal you're after, you've come to the right person," Yamato said, feeling proud of himself, that he had something to offer Hiro, that he could devise exactly what the two of them needed. "I am a Hotsuin, and he gave me information about the septentriones, even if not the forms they would take. Do you remember where you will next encounter him?"

Hiro shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

"Of course you had other, more important things on your mind," Yamato agreed, and didn't notice that he was a little relieved. The septentrione was just a useful tool to Hiro, and it wasn't as though Yamato kept track of Makoto's whereabouts unless she was acting under his orders. "So, I need to create a seal that you can carry with you, that you can use to capture him, bind him and make him submit to you."

Inwardly, Hiro winced, because once again it was clear that Yamato had no idea of what he was saying, or the way it sounded, especially when he said it so, so _lustfully_. That was really the only word. Then there was the way he'd wondered if Hiro was yearning for him the way Yamato yearned for Hiro, when Hiro came to recruit him after the battle where Yamato said he'd kill all of them for taking Hiro away from him. That had honestly made Hiro wonder what was next, love poetry? Probably in impeccable classical style. Well, if the world hadn't reset.

Messy pale hair: the two of them did look related. Had Alcor based his human form on the Hotsuin family to begin with? Yes, he'd started interacting with humans long before then, but Hiro remembered that Alcor saw past and future as part of the same thing, all written out 'ahead of time' from the human perspective.

It wasn't necessarily that he was gay, it was the way Yamato was talking like that and looking at him like that, like he wanted to eat Hiro up. Then there was the way he'd acted like a woman scorned during the fight at the tower last time. Now the younger man was talking about submission and it really was straining Hiro's ability to believe that yes, Yamato really was this oblivious. He was a teenage guy! Didn't he have _any _porn? Hadn't _anyone _given him the talk? Well, he probably was celibate, since he was responsible for maintaining a barrier that was important to national security, kind of like a miko. Actually, not being allowed to get laid or anything, since he didn't have anyone worthy of fooling around with would explain a lot of Yamato's pent up resentment for the Japanese government, but still!

Hiro was divided between wanting to give him the talk just so that Yamato would know what not to do in front of Hiro, like look up at him with eyes full of smug, playful hunger and knowing that it was a bad idea because Yamato might ask him for demonstrations. Or realize that yes, he actually was in love with Hiro, and then either Hiro would have to tell him no, which would be a _bad idea_, or be the younger teen's first and let Yamato get even more insanely attracted to him, which would also end in homicide if they ever broke up.

Hiro tried to tell himself that Yamato was just getting turned on by the thought of victory, not capturing someone and turning them into Hiro's bondage slave. Yamato certainly didn't have any idea what those were. Hiro just had a dirty mind: it came from being an ordinary teenager instead of one who had missed out on normal things like hentai and takoyaki.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiro's ability to remember that Yamato really didn't know what the hell he was saying or doing was once again strained after he defeated Alcor within the space marked off by the seal. It was easy enough with a Vasuki and a Zaou Gongen: Hiro hadn't wanted to give Alcor much of a chance to fight back. No, he'd wanted to get the ambushing and attacking his friend part over with quick. To not have to see shock or pain in Alcor's eyes, to make sure the septentrione didn't have time to think that Hiro hated him and he _deserved _it for getting humanity into trouble. At least not for long.

When Alcor fell to the ground in human form again, this time he was affected by Hiro's revive auto-ability right away, thanks to the seal. That was good: Hiro hadn't wanted to see him glow and disappear a second time, but what made Hiro worry about Yamato's mental state and fetishes was that it wasn't chains that grew out of the glowing ground and walls of the sealed area to bind Alcor, raise him up to his knees, but what looked like black silk cords. Well, that wouldn't hurt him as much as hard metal chains might?

And the way his clothes disappeared, too. That was kind of… Okay, maybe Yamato really was gay.

"Shining One?" Alcor asked, looking up at him in a way that was just so pitiful. He couldn't even raise his hand to his mouth the way he normally did, couldn't cover or hide himself and his shame at all.

"It's alright, Alcor," Hiro said, going to one knee and putting a hand on the septentrione's shoulder in case he knew enough about human body language, or at least appreciated human contact enough for that to reassure him. "Yes, I know what you are," he told the further-shocked septentrione, trying to sound calming. "I've known all along, and I don't hate you. I asked Yamato to make this so that we could help you. You don't like what Polaris did to this world and to us, right? But there's only so much you can do to oppose Polaris, because he made you. Is he your master?"

"He, he separated me from the mind we all shared, and tried to confine me in sleep. He cast me aside, but I have no other, Shining One," Alcor said, sounding ashamed of the fact he was unwanted, discarded. That it meant he was unworthy, because his master didn't want him and that was the opinion that mattered. And yet he'd asked the Shining One's opinion, if the Shining One blamed him for what had befallen humanity.

"Would you like another?" the Shining One asked, and Alcor's head jerked up to meet kind blue eyes. "I know you can't choose your purpose the way humans can, but you were made to bar the way to Polaris, right? To try to protect him from harm? And isn't that what you've been doing for us? Trying to give us a sword, help us survive and protect ourselves? I've beaten you: I've beaten Polaris, even though he tried to overwrite and delete the file where I won. So I'm stronger than he is. I can steal you from him, if you want to be stolen. Win you from him." Because Alcor was a prize, not a piece of trash. One Hiro would fight to win, fight to save. "I know that you're obligated to fight me, but I've already beaten you just now, so you know you can't win. Your last duty as a septentrione has been completed. There isn't anything else you owe Polaris," Hiro said, remembering his conversations with Makoto about what she owed JPs. "You've done your duty, fulfilled your purpose. More than once." This time, the last, any that happened before. "You've helped us for so long: let me help you, please? I don't want to have to watch you die again."

"Like your friends? You saw my future," somehow, "And…" Saw me as worth saving? "Shining One…" Alcor said, and bowed his head before him. "I was Polaris' sword, created as his tool, his shield. In humans I saw the potential for freedom and choice, and it was a beautiful thing. For you to offer this to me?"

"Say yes?"

"Please, Shining One. Let me be your sword?" Alcor's head tilted to the side, pressing his cheek against the back of Hiro's hand, gently holding that hand between his cheek and his shoulder. Not capturing it, but showing that he wanted it to stay there, for Hiro to keep hold of him. That Alcor was yielding, not struggling. Wanting to be kept by the Shining One, not wanting to be freed from these new bonds the way he had wished it was possible on some level to be free of Polaris, all this time.

"Is that really all you want, to be a sword?" Hiro asked him. "If I'm your master, I can give you other purposes, right? You don't have to be just a weapon. You did what you could to help us because you wanted to. What I'd like you to do is keep doing that, keep doing what you want to for us. And if you're lonely, then I'd like you to stay with our group, okay? Me, Airi: you'll have lots of friends. Even Yamato forgave you last time, and this time he's helped me with this, so that I could help you."

Of course, right now Hiro needed help finding Alcor some clothes. The blush on Alcor's cheeks, his adoring eyes looking up at the Shining One, the way he was practically begging Hiro to take advantage of him, obviously wanting to be wanted and so very grateful: Alcor was a septentrione, Hiro tried to remind himself. Who probably didn't have a real form, but had others that looked like a cube or a star. Hiro hoped they didn't have any equivalent of sex, because that would make Polaris even creepier.

Hiro took off his jacket and tried to tie it around Alcor's waist like a loincloth without actually looking down or making Alcor worry by removing his hand, then decided to call Hinako to bring Alcor some more clothing. Not because Hinako would be a sensible choice: he was certain she'd tell everyone about this, but at least she wasn't Daichi, who would freak; Airi, who was even younger than Yamato; Makoto, who was trying not to perv over him to begin with; Otome, who would use it to tease Makoto about her alleged attraction to Hiro… Okay, maybe there wasn't actually a good person to call – Hiro shuddered at the thought of Joe's reaction to this – but hopefully looking at Hinako's alleged shirt would remind him what normal was after dealing with Yamato's idea of bondage and Alcor looking slim, delicate and wanting.

"Shining One, my master… I will be with you always."

Not actually a love confession, Hiro told himself. Not actually a love confession… "Hey, Hinako? Could you bring me some clothing? For a guy. About my size? Just whatever you can grab. As soon as you can get over here, please."

Of course, when Hinako got there was when Hiro realized he didn't have any idea how to get Alcor out of the rope bondage (which Hinako had stared at incredulously and asked if that was seriously magical shibari and if the Anguished One had sprung a trap meant for Hiro) in order to put clothes on him without calling Yamato. Who arrived very quickly.

With a collar. That was designed not to remove the seal but contain and suppress it for future reactivation.

"This way, he can't return to Polaris," Yamato explained. "If he tries to remove the symbol of his new owner, the seal will reactivate. It will serve as a reminder that he is now bound to someone else."

"Thank you, Yamato Hotsuin," Alcor said, sounding incredibly touched by such thoughtfulness before Hiro's stunned brain managed to think of a response beyond, 'Seriously?' or, 'have you just been screwing with me and pretending to be oblivious so that you can laugh at me trying to deny that you're hitting on me this entire time?'

Then Alcor bared his throat and Hiro found himself watching Yamato drop to one knee as though this was a ring he was holding out instead of a collar. Watching him fasten that black leather around that delicate neck, carefully drawing the strap until it was tight enough to be felt and stay where it was put but not tight enough to restrict Alcor's breathing (although he probably didn't actually need to breathe). He saw how the presence of it, how having a reminder that even if he wasn't free at least Alcor belonged to someone else now, someone who wasn't genocidal, someone who wouldn't throw him away for helping people or having his own opinion was a _comfort _to Alcor.

Now Hiro couldn't take it away from him. Not if having a master who would let him do as he liked was as close as the Septentrione could come to having the freedom he admired in humanity. He couldn't do to Alcor what Polaris had, and he couldn't remind him of that rejection. Couldn't risk Alcor fighting him again and dying again, for lack of any other purpose to serve.

Hiro hadn't expected that Alcor would follow him around like a puppy, levitating instead of walking, but maybe he should have. He really should have expected that Alcor would blow up any enemies that got close to Hiro the same way he'd blown up that bud of Megrez with a snap of his fingers. Alcor had been created as a weapon and bodyguard, right? At least he'd stopped blowing up the demons when Hiro asked him to: he'd seemed a little disappointed, but Hiro needed the practice.

Hinako first brought Alcor a spare JPs uniform because it was what they had lying around, but Yamato objected to that and brought Alcor something that must have come from Yamato's own closet, because Hiro didn't think there was anyone else who would have what looked something like traditional onmyoji robes just lying around, although Alcor didn't wear the hat or most of the regalia of the court sorcerers. Hiro doubted that the traditional robes had exposed so much of the shoulders, drawing the eye to the only spot of black above the collarbone, the collar around Alcor's neck.

Which begged the questions of whether or not Yamato had a tailor (probably, since this was Yamato), if that tailor was still alive and if Yamato had told him to alter some official costume so they had something appropriate for the septentrione to wear. Something that made him look like a slave of fate, servant of Japan, like Yamato's clan? Hiro did see him looking at Alcor in that getup and smiling to himself a lot, but then Yamato was… Yamato.

While Hiro was trying to ignore the question of how many levels the younger teen was enjoying this on, Alcor definitely seemed happy. The first night he knelt by Hiro's door, to guard it. Hiro guessed why he was doing it so he didn't tell Alcor no exactly, but it still bothered him a little so he convinced Alcor to at least lie down on the other side of the bed, on top of the covers. Even if Alcor didn't sleep or have to worry about bruising his knees on the hard floor, Hiro would still feel bad if he knelt there to guard the door all night. Not to mention that Alcor ran the risk of being run over by or blowing up one of Hiro's friends in the morning.

"Ah," was Alcor's reaction to being warned that Hiro would be woken up by someone coming in the next morning, and that they wouldn't be here to attack him. "That is understandable. Very few came to see Polaris, and mostly to challenge him, but of course humans, with their ability to choose, would choose to be with the Shining One." There was that little blush again, and now it was happiness.

So Hiro lay down and started trying to fall asleep knowing that Alcor would probably be awake all night watching him with that little smile of happiness and those adoring eyes, but it couldn't be any creepier than Alcor telling him that of course he was watching the Shining One _all the time_. At least this way, Hiro could see him. Could at least tell him to wait outside or turn away when he showered and went to the bathroom. It wasn't as though the septentrione cared… probably…

Hiro found himself checking the summoning app just before he fell asleep to make sure he hadn't somehow cracked and set Lilith's Temptation auto-ability. No, it was still good old Blitzkrieg. Yet it was just that he seemed to have how many people devoted enough to him to fight for him now?

The past cycles explained it, right? Like Yamato. It seemed as though they just got attached to him so quickly, but really, was it all that creepy when he considered that they'd fought together before? Who knew how many times, for how long? So he'd earned this trust, this devotion, over time. That was why they were all acting as loyal as Daichi, why they would all join up with him in the end despite having their own beliefs. Why all of them would be able to fight each other and then be friends again, no hard feelings. Why Hinako and Jungo hated the idea of them fighting so much when they'd really just met.

After listening to Tico's summary of the day and how happy the AI was that Hiro had taken in his creator, Hiro checked his e-mail. "Alcor?"

"Yes, Shining One?"

"Why is there an official site e-mail announcing that we've been engaged?" Hiro's eyes widened. Oh crap. "And how many people was this sent to?"

Alcor leaned up and over Hiro a bit to look at Hiro's cell phone screen and looked touched again. "Ticoa must have sent it, to explain that demons controlled by the summon app would no longer attack the Shining One and warn app users against raising their hands against you."

"Ticoa?"

"Tico A and Tico B," Alcor explained.

"Oh, like stars in binary systems." Hiro knew that much about astronomy, even if it was Hinako who had identified the septentriones' names as the stars of the big dipper. He sighed. "Come on, we'd better go find Yamato before he goes ballistic."

"This way, Shining One," Alcor said, vanishing.

Hiro stared at the indentation in the bed where he used to be. "If I can't see you, I can't follow you," he explained patiently.

Alcor reappeared. "Forgive me, Shining One," he said, taking Hiro's hand.

Then Hiro found himself lying on the floor of Yamato's office instead of his own bed, hearing Yamato rage at his cell phone. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"You're just jealous because he's our daddy now," the female Tico said, and blew a raspberry at Yamato as Hiro got to his feet, wondering exactly when the world had become so insane and how many weeks it had really taken him to get so used to this.

"Oh, Hiro," he heard behind him as Makoto walked in, looking startled to see him there. "Congratulations?"

"Sato!" her boss barked at her. "Don't listen to this ignorant AI. Hiro is obviously mine! Get me Fumi! I'll kill her!"

"…Kill Fumi?" Makoto asked, utterly confused.

"No, you fool, this bunny-suited and hare-brained AI!"

Ticoa leaned forward on Yamato's cell phone screen and stuck out her tongue at him again, followed by a rude gesture. "You're such a goof. Like we'd let you have Hiro after you broke our dad's heart. You _obviously _are like totally unworthy."

"Ticoa…" Alcor said in a, 'behave right now, young lady,' voice.

"But _Daaaaaad, _he's like relly_…_"

Hiro wondered if he could get Alcor to tell him where Otome kept the aspirin.

Especially once Yamato started stroking the side of Alcor's collar and smirking at his cell phone, which made Alcor look over at Hiro, presumably asking if he should let Yamato keep doing this. Yamato had given him the collar, but he was supposed to be Hiro's and it was supposed to be a symbol that he belonged to Hiro, not to someone who had decided to let Earth's destruction happen so that he could bring humanity back mind-controlled.

At that point, Hiro had no option but to get in the middle of this, because he didn't want Alcor to get Anguished again.

Aspirin. Definitely, he thought as he gently nudged Yamato's hand away to put his hand over Alcor's collar, sitting on Yamato's desk and letting the septentrione lean on him a little. "Ticoa," he said, deciding to use Alcor's name for her, "It's not the same thing as engagement and you know it. You put it that way in the e-mail just to annoy Yamato, didn't you." He'd chosen the female Tico last time: he remembered what she was like.

"Excuse me, Master Hiro," Tico B said from Hiro's own cell phone (had he hacked it to turn on the speaker?), "but have you not promised to be with him forever? If you wish him to become the foundation of your new world, we are worried that he will take extreme measures unless you make it clear that you want him to stay with you."

"Extreme measures?" Hiro asked Alcor. What was this now?

"Well, the world I want to give you would be a world just ruled by humanity," Alcor said, ducking his head. "A world that wouldn't need an administrator, where there would be no higher power capable of overruling your decisions or making all your effort meaningless, Shining One."

"What means what, exactly?" Yamato asked, eyes narrow. "Tell me you weren't planning to die after Hiro put so much effort into saving you. Wasting Hiro's time and effort… You have no right to throw your life away when it belongs to him!"

Alcor bowed his head.

"Of course Hiro is too kind to punish you for this…" Yamato grumbled, folding his arms.

"I don't want my power to be used against humanity or the Shining One. All the others have sought to destroy you. I meant to become the world, so everything would be with you."

"Placing the world under Hiro's control… Acceptable," Yamato decided. "He is clearly the strongest of us, after all, if he's even able to fight off Polaris' control over his data."

Hiro didn't think that was exactly what Alcor meant, but if Yamato could put this in terms of the merit system, that cut down on the number of headaches Hiro was going to have.

Especially after he found that he'd somehow ended up agreeing to take Yamato on a 'date' tomorrow, in order to prove to everyone that Hiro was not taken by the septentrione. Well, he'd meant to introduce him to takoyaki again anyway, since he needed the laugh (although he'd managed to keep a straight face at the time), but if Yamato thought _Hiro _was wearing a collar for anyone, much less going along with the merit system idea, he had another think coming.

Oh, right, since things had started changing already, he should probably tell Ronaldo that his mentor was still alive (for now) and see if he could goad Yamato into that speech he'd given when Hiro recruited him after their battle about why he wanted the merit system and all that his family had done and suffered for Japan, giving their lives for a corrupt nation that wouldn't change or reform. Maybe he could make Ronaldo see the takoyaki thing too, that should make it pretty clear that Yamato was about ten years younger than Ronaldo, had the people skills and awareness of the world outside JPs of a six-year-old and had issues because his parents had probably died. And no one cared, it didn't make any difference to the system. Just like Ronaldo's mentor's death. At the root of it, Ronaldo and Yamato really wanted a world where everyone could and would do their best for each other, where all the people in the world were good people who contributed. They just had such extreme ways of going about this.


	3. Chapter 3

So that was how Hiro ended up walking through Nagoya holding the hand of a happily-stuffed Yamato, who had reacted to takoyaki the same way as before, only this time there was more takoyaki. Yamato was wearing Alcor's clothes so he wouldn't be recognized as the head of JPs. Alcor floated around them in a mini version of his cube form with the collar around one of the bars of the black cube-outline and a leash attached to it, to make it clear that this was a tame demon instead of a rogue one or a septentrione.

Yamato had almost pouted at the beginning, to see how the civilians were not reacting to the sight of Alcor with fear or distrust or anything. For one thing, the small floaty cube was kind of cute. For another, most of these people had only survived this long because of the demons summoned by the app. Many of the people around them were casually summoning demons to dig through the rubble or heal injuries. It certainly wasn't rare to walk around with one's demons already summoned, to make it clear to looters and other demons that this human wasn't helpless. Hiro could see people noticing the collar and leash thing and clearly thinking that it was a good idea, since it would let people know on sight which demons were friendlies.

Still, at this point Yamato had vacuumed so much takoyaki down his throat that the food coma was setting in, and he seemed rather content, almost mellow, which wasn't a description that would normally be applied to him. Perhaps it was the industrious activity around them, how the civilians Ronaldo rallied were making use of demons and organizing themselves to defend their safe zones and search for supplies. He was looking around him with approval, looking something like a tourist observing the local color and traditions. Hiro could just hear him say that civilians were so interesting, just like Alcor except substitute humans for civilians.

"Hey, Hiro!" Ronaldo said, running up to them easily.

"Did you find him?" Hiro asked.

"I found him, just where you said." When and where.

"It was Alcor that found him, really," Hiro said, nodding at the cube. There wasn't much point in using a false name for him when his data showed up on the summon app.

"Thanks," Ronaldo told Alcor, no differently than if he'd been talking to a human instead of a demon. A septentrione in this case, not that Hiro wanted to have that conversation with him right now. "Wait, same Alcor as in the e-mail?"

Hiro sighed. "That was a prank."

Alright then. "Were you followed?" he asked Hiro.

"No, but is there somewhere private we can talk?" Hiro saw Yamato frown at him at this point: why did Hiro want to go somewhere private with this other civilian on their date? "This is important. If we clear the air about this now, we'll save about a day and we don't have many left."

"If you say so, Hiro."

Ronaldo grimaced. "The food won't hold out forever, even if JPs shares their stockpiles."

"Obviously," Yamato told him. "Do you know how much food is brought into these cities every day? If it weren't for the demons-" Hiro put a hand over Yamato's mouth before Yamato could say, 'decreasing the surplus population' in Ronaldo's hearing.

Yamato looked shocked, but permitted it. Hiro just hoped he hadn't used up too much of the general goodwill the takoyaki had put in Yamato's system. "JPs is hoarding stockpiles because if the demon tamers don't eat, they'll get weaker and won't be able to fight the septentriones. Remember how that septentrione attacked the power supply for the tower here? The…" Hiro looked around them. "Somewhere private. This will start a panic if it gets out."

Ronaldo looked around them suspiciously before nodding. "This way."

Once they were safely inside an apartment, Ronaldo gestured for them to sit down on a couch. Yamato actually reclined, which was unlike him, and Hiro let Alcor off the leash, since he didn't have to worry about people examining a suspicious-looking demon with their apps and everyone ganging up on the septentrione in here.

"I found out a lot of stuff, but to sum up: JPs' job is protecting Japan against war and supernatural threats. The family has a lot of power and they're a military secret: spying on them is treason and it's not unusual for spies to get shot instead of surrendering, which is why Yamato thought someone who spied on JPs recently was probably dead. The real power of the Hotsuin is that they can control the Dragon Stream: it creates barriers that protect Japan's major cities. Right now, everything outside that barrier is gone, and three of the barriers have fallen."

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"I mean gone," Hiro told him. "There's just void. Everything's been erased. Yamato Hotsuin knew this was going to happen-"

"He knew?!" Ronaldo exploded to his feet.

"Sit down!" Hiro ordered, shocking Ronaldo enough to stop the incipient rant about the evils of JPs. "He was warned that the administrator of the Akashic Record, Polaris, was going to try to destroy this world. His barriers protected us against being erased, but Polaris is sending the septentriones to destroy the towers. That's why we've lost contact with three of the six cities: JPs just didn't have enough forces to protect those towers, it's the towers that generate the barrier, so Yamato focused on defending these three cities. Right now, there just isn't enough space left for farming, fishing or anything for humanity to survive over the long term. The only way for us to survive, and bring everyone back from the dead, is to hold out long enough to defeat Polaris. You were right: Yamato isn't trying to protect most of the civilians, because if he split his forces trying to do that, the septentriones would destroy the towers and everyone would die. Yamato has been focusing on the goal of defeating the septentriones and holding out for long enough with a fighting force capable of taking down Polaris once the others are dead. If we can do that, then everyone who is dying and starving right now can come back to life. If we can't because JPs starts to get weak for lack of food, or loses too many people to do what needs doing, than everyone dies. Do you get how much trouble we're in now? Just killing Yamato won't fix anything!"

Ronaldo was shocked.

"I know it's a lot to take in at once." Hiro opened his bag, taking out a memory stick and a photograph to start with. "This is a picture of the void in one of the cities that's falling apart right now: I wrote the code to use the terminal to go to that city so you can see for yourself on the back, but be careful and seriously, don't stick your hand into the void. This contains some of Yamato's operations plan and data on the septentriones and what the administrator of the Akashic Record is capable of: he didn't know what forms they would take or what exactly he had to prepare for, so he had to make sure JPs was able to cover a lot of bases. You're thinking of JPs as some big, faceless organization with a lot of power and Yamato Hotsuin as some shadowy figure that could control everything and do everything at once: he's not. He's younger than I am," and to the 26-year-old cop, someone who hadn't graduated high school yet wasn't that old at all.

"His parents died when he was young because they didn't have enough supplies or support from the government, and that's happened to a lot of Hotsuin. He was basically raised by tutors who didn't teach him anything about the real world, or any _tact,_ just how to do his job for the country and then he found out that someone incredibly powerful was going to wipe out the human race and he had to pull a plan together that would save the world. What he's managed to do is pretty impressive, Ronaldo, but you can't hate him for not being a miracle worker. He's not abandoning the people of Japan because he doesn't care about protecting them: he's not trying because he doesn't think he can, and aside from handing out more food since we aren't going to last more than a week anyway, so there's no point in trying to keep JPs fed beyond then, and teaching people how to use the summon app, there really isn't a lot more that _I've _been able to figure out that we can do to help people with the resources he managed to scrape together."

"You're in control over there now?" How had that happened? Yet Ronaldo approved.

"Just in control of civilian outreach." Hiro paused. "And fighting the septentriones. And…" Well, whatever he wanted to have control of, basically, now that Yamato was willing to tell him things and let Alcor at the files so the two of them could pull this together to win over Ronaldo, hopefully.

"I still have to do all the paperwork," Yamato grumbled, getting comfortable leaning against Hiro and the back of the couch. "But Hiro is invaluable." Maybe he was so much like Yamato because he'd grown more like Yamato over time? Because he'd admired Yamato and worked to be as competent as him when he was starting out as an ordinary, useless civilian?

Ronaldo was a detective, after all. "Yamato Hotsuin? You brought him into my home?!"

Yamato gave him an annoyed look. Like he cared. "You've organized these people well: I'm impressed. You already impressed Makoto enough to let you go. If Hiro thinks I shouldn't have you killed as a threat to my organization and the survival of this country, then I won't."

Hiro rolled his eyes theatrically. "Like I said, no tact. Or social skills." He told Ronaldo that, "He hadn't even _heard _of takoyaki before, can you believe that? They really didn't let him have a life outside of what he needed to know to do his job, since they needed to make him grow up fast to replace his dead parents in the same job that killed them. I'm the first friend he's ever had." If Ronaldo had to hate someone, let him hate the people who used Yamato this way. "I know he's been rude and hasn't bothered to… Well, is there really a nice way to say, 'there isn't enough food to go around, because the people who can fight have to be fed first or the septentriones will kill us all and everyone will stay dead?' But he's not evil. Both of you are very dedicated to your ideals and what you think is right: I think that you'll get along pretty well. Part of the reason that he was acting like he didn't have any compassion for what people were going through is that he just didn't have any idea what ordinary people were going through because he's never been allowed to be an ordinary person. He doesn't have any idea what people are like other than staff members and _politicians_." Hiro knew Ronaldo hated obstructionist politicians too.

Now Yamato looked annoyed. "I'm not ignorant."

Hiro raised an eyebrow at him. "When it comes to this kind of stuff? Yes, you are. That's why I said I'd be your tutor: most people have parents and friends to tutor them in this kind of stuff. You haven't had any lessons before, so you're a beginner." That was just how learning a new subject worked.

Yamato looked away, admitting Hiro was right. The way Yamato's grey hair was perpetually messy, the sleepy look eating too much at once and having all his blood go to his stomach gave him made him look tired and about ready to go to sleep (he was already curled up against Hiro): all of it added up to an overworked, overstressed and grumpy with it… teenager. He looked human. This was the best way Hiro could think of for them to meet face to face, for Ronaldo to see this instead of Yamato's usual superior, dismissive attitude.

They'd still been able to come to an understanding on the last day, after Ronaldo's hatred had even more time to grow, once Ronaldo saw why Yamato believed in the merit system, why he felt that way about the old world.

"You said that we would play dodgeball later, since your friend Daichi was so shocked that I hadn't," Yamato remind him instead.

"Right: I already set it up." Keita had agreed to come right away, which at first surprised Hiro, but then he realized that it was a competition and one where Keita got to throw things at annoying people, so it was probably his favorite PE activity. No wonder Airi had been so eager to come.

"I assume there's a strategic reason for bringing me to see this person on _our date?_" That was supposed to be Yamato's time? Having the septentrione along was only allowed because Yamato found it amusing and hoped Alcor would watch and be envious of Yamato, even though that wasn't in Alcor's nature. (Hiro just hoped Yamato never found out that Alcor was actually with him _all the time_.)

"Date?" Ronaldo said, shocked and amused, and Hiro knew they had him. If Yamato could actually like someone? And Ronaldo considered Hiro a fairly good judge of character, so if Hiro was letting Yamato date him? Ronaldo was pretty sure at this point that Hiro was the one who asked him out, or at least the one calling the shots, since Yamato didn't seem to know much about dates besides the word and the concept of being jealous that Hiro was paying attention to someone else during them. No wonder he'd been looking down his nose at Ronaldo once Hiro started talking about Yamato like he wasn't there: had to hurt the guy's ego.

Hiro grinned: this wasn't a guy who got embarrassed easily. "Yeah. I'll leave the files and stuff with you, but we need to start walking back to base. Let me know if you have any suggestions for me."

"Alright," Ronaldo said, nodding. "You kids have fun."

* * *

"You deliberately made sure I wouldn't make a proper impression," Yamato said once they were safely outside. "Was that part of people skills?" He wouldn't have put up with anyone else embarrassing him, but Hiro had squeezed his hand at one point to signal that Hiro knew what he was doing and wasn't focused on this other person and ignoring Yamato, so he'd let it continue until it looked like things might drag on too long.

"Right." Hiro nodded. "There are times it's better to not try to look your best. Not to mention that most people try to act stronger than they are most of the time, so if someone's letting weakness show, that's being more honest." His hand squeezed Yamato's. "And I wasn't tricking him, I was just showing him that he didn't understand you at all, so he would stop thinking he knew what was going on in your head."

"Shocking him with a lot of data at once." Yamato smiled. He really couldn't have a better tutor than Hiro.

Alcor bobbed along happily behind them. Humans were so fascinating. He'd given Yamato Hotsuin information on the threat because he was the best suited to protect Japan, but at the time Yamato Hotsuin himself had nothing and no one that he wished to protect, so he had chosen to make a better world, or at least what he had thought would be a better one. Now that he had a friend? Human friendship really was a wonderful thing: that was why Nicaea sent the warnings to the victim's friends.

The Shining One had also invited Alcor to the dodgeball, and the Child of Possibility had even specifically asked to make sure that he wasn't being left out. It wasn't the same as the group mind he once had been part of, but he certainly wasn't lonely anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

Keita hefted his ball and smiled predatorily at that idiot, who didn't even have the grace to be scared, just smile brainlessly back as though he believed this was some kind of team-building exercise and Keita throwing balls at him would make them friends or something.

"Hey!" Airi said next to him. "I'm the only one who's allowed to beat the stupid out of Jungo… But he's so, so _Jungo_." Actually… "Never mind, there's so much stupid in there that I could use the help," she muttered, getting ready to throw her own ball.

"I don't need your permission," Keita said, glaring at her, but secretly he agreed and was grateful for the help too.

* * *

"Winner and still champion!" Hinako crowed after the rest of them gave up trying to hit her even once and Hiro called a halt to the game since they all needed water and he was tired, after fighting Alioth, walking around with Yamato and now a good solid hour of dodgeball, since all of them were in good shape from fighting demons and they'd basically lost track of time.

"That's the benefit of training," Yamato said, raising his cup to signal his approval of the woman's grace, skill and hard work to obtain them. "Good job today, Kujou." Using her dancing to let them make use of Shiva as well.

Makoto, Otome and Fumi all stared at Yamato.

"Oh, oh, aaah, look out!" Io cried in warning as she realized she was about to lose control of her levitation, wobbling in midair. Hiro had sent her and Daichi, along with Joe and Makoto, to get Lugh's power before the barrier was shut down long enough for the god's spirit to be damaged.

Thankfully, Alcor grabbed her hands and kept her from falling until she managed to get control back: since he could fly too, he'd volunteered to be her spotter when Io decided to get some practice after the dodgeball game ended.

"It's rare to see someone with that level of channeling ability," Yamato said, and Dr. Otome nodded her agreement.

"Mizer's tomorrow," Hiro remembered. "I'll talk to Ronaldo, but if he can get his people to pitch in: Makoto, would you mind coordinating things with him?"

"Remember to state that the supplies we are giving them are for the purpose of ensuring that they are able to effectively aid the defense of Japan's remaining cities," Yamato said. "We can't have people thinking that we have enough to just hand them out to anyone." But he'd seen that Ronaldo's people were making good use of their resources and defending their territory, so they were worthy of the supplies. If what Ronaldo truly hated was those who lived off the work of others without contributing, if his concept of a new world was one where everyone had to pull their weight and wasn't allowed to work to hamper others? At least Ronaldo intended to eliminate the lazy and weak, just by editing them to no longer be useless burdens instead of killing them, even if he hadn't given thought to taking proper advantage of the strong.

Hiro nodded. "If you can subtly mention that we only have a few days left ourselves, that would be a good idea. So they don't think we're not on rations too over here."

Makoto nodded. "I'll bring along some of the JPs troops who have made the most complaints about the food." Quantity and quality.

"Good thinking," Hiro told her. "Just remind them that if anyone's going to have enough, they're going to need to look for food, alright? Instead of focusing on us. I'm just not sure if we want to promise them that if JPs plan works, everyone they've lost as well as the outside world can be brought back." He looked up at Alcor, who was floating up above and holding Io's hands above her head in case he needed to steady her while she worked on floating in different directions and controlling her pace. It made him think of a parent helping a toddler practice walking. Well, Alcor was a dad. "Getting their hopes up too much might be cruel." Both to the people like Io, who had lost her parents, and Alcor, if he couldn't control the Record with that kind of precision.

"Still, just the leaks that we have a plan and intend to fix this instead of just struggling to survive have helped morale," Makoto told him.

"And make a new and better world," Yamato added.

"Let's just not waste two of the days we have left fighting over how to make it a better world, okay?" Hiro asked. "I know that everyone has their ideals, but humanity became strong enough to defeat Polaris because of our free will: Alcor couldn't even really think it was possible for us to beat even one of them, he just gave us Nicaea and the devil summoning program because that's how he is." He cared and wanted to help them. "We should fix ourselves instead of taking the risk of ending up like the septentriones."

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Yamato asked, walking up to him. "Alcor is happy now, serving a benevolent dictator, the strongest and most fitting ruler. A group mind so that everyone can see everyone else's potential and the lazy are driven to work for the benefit of others, while the potential of the strong is encouraged: wouldn't that Ronaldo like a world like that too?" His hand touched Hiro's jacket, over his heart. "Have you thought about what it means that a star calls you the Shining One? He sees you as an avatar of the will of humanity. Do you really think that you would misuse your power instead of looking after us the way you do Alcor?"

"Misuse… my power?"

Yamato laughed: of course."I wanted a world where the strong and worthy had control. It would be hypocritical of me, I would be just like _them_, if I didn't yield to someone stronger. More worthy." His hand stroked down Hiro's chest now, and Hiro realized that this actually was Yamato's attempt to seduce him. By offering him power. Power over _Yamato_.

It was like looking at one of those pictures that could seem to be either a skull or two children, two faces in profile or a vase. The same details Hiro had been looking at all along suddenly, with this new piece of information, started looking like a completely different image.

He'd thought that Yamato was controlling because that was how he acted, but really, Yamato didn't care about controlling JPs beyond the extent necessary to get the job done. Heck, last time he'd disbanded JPs, even as one of his loyal men begged Yamato to remain in control. Yamato considered power, especially over other people, to be something important, but it wasn't something he wanted for himself, it was something he was outright willing to throw away.

Yamato's complaint about the old system, the root of it, was that the Hotsuin had died for an unworthy country, an unworthy master. That the weak tried to control and keep down people they didn't have any right to control.

Yamato thought in terms of dominance and submission: everything about him screamed it and his world of merit outright stated it, but he didn't especially want to dominate others. Discipline? Disciplining JPs staff bored him, was something he didn't bother with since they weren't capable of improvement. So, in his mind, someone else disciplining him would show that they thought he _was _capable of becoming better, stronger.

No, what angered Yamato was other people trying to control him, was being forced to serve unworthy masters. He didn't prove his right to rule JPs by striking down Makoto when she disobeyed by letting Ronaldo go, he told Hiro that it was necessary to place himself in danger with Kama in Sapporo in order to show that he wasn't a coward who led from behind, he was someone _worth _following.

Yamato brought that collar, knew what Alcor wanted because it was what _he _wanted. Yamato would fight viciously if someone unworthy tried to control him, but now he'd found Hiro, and placed Hiro in control of operation after operation while Yamato did other tasks that contributed to their success, took the subordinate role even though it was Yamato, not Hiro, who assigned himself to those roles.

Yamato's uniform, his entire persona: it wasn't, 'I'm brilliant and powerful, so bow down before me,' it was, 'I'm brilliant and powerful, so want me, try to prove yourselves worthy of me.'

He could see Yamato wearing a collar like Alcor's. Not in the matter-of-fact way Alcor did, since he was a servant and it was a mark of servitude instead of anything remarkable (wearing a maid's uniform wasn't fetish gear if you _were _a maid). No, Yamato would strut around in it even more arrogant and prideful than he was in his JPs commander uniform, smirking at people and hoping some fool would try to make something of it so that he could tear them apart in Hiro's name, for disrespecting the one worthy to be his master. Hiro could absolutely see him dragging mutilated and panicked people begging Hiro's forgiveness for their disrespect home like a smug cat leaving dead birds on the doorstep.

And it was… um. The thought of someone as powerful, prickly and picky as Yamato choosing to bow down to him, trying to tempt him to bite that pale neck and leave a mark of his ownership? That was, that was a power trip. Even more than Alcor, much more than collaring the replacement administrator, because even though Alcor would hopefully become as powerful as a god, he'd just been lonely and in need of Hiro's help. Needing to be saved. It was gratitude for the Shining One's kindness, for giving him another purpose, a new home and company that made Alcor happy to be bound to him.

Yamato wanted him, had wanted him all along, even if Hiro had made the mistake of assuming that his expressions of that desire were too blunt and lacking in subtlety to be what they seemed to be. But this was Yamato who said on the last day that he yearned for Hiro and hoped Hiro was yearning for him. Yamato who praised Hiro's strength and skill when Yamato believed that the strong should be in control. Yamato who ate takoyaki when Hiro told him to even though Yamato didn't want to (not at first, and then he scarfed down plates in seconds).

Yamato whose hand was touching Hiro's jacket, clearly offering to take it off him, wanting to instead touch the flesh beneath. Yamato's hand wasn't going any further south than his waist, yet it was somehow obvious that yes, this was definitely something sexual instead of a clumsy attempt to mimic friendly touch. Possibly it was the smug want in Yamato's eyes, that he was going to unwrap Hiro and devour him as soon as Hiro let him. As soon as Hiro took him up on the offer and told him to?

Provided Hiro let him. He would, right? He saw Yamato as worthy of being his, not like one of the trash Yamato had under his command? He had to, he'd already shown that he considered Yamato worth teaching, even offered to become his tutor.

Hiro saw Yamato decide that maybe he hadn't been sufficiently clear, since it seemed that civilians had trouble understanding him. "You make me want things, Hiro. Things I've only read about in old books."

Ah, Hiro realized distantly. That was how Yamato knew about shibari despite the efforts of his tutors. Just because it was hundreds of years old didn't mean it wasn't porn, and the Hotsuin probably had an old manor with all kinds of old books shelved innocently in the library by people a few centuries too young to remember that the ancient equivalent of 'Playboy,' for example, wasn't about children's games. Or that while the Kama Sutra was a religious text, it was that of a god disturbingly into belly buttons.

"I want you to hold me down and have your way with me," Yamato said, because that was the right of the strong.

Behind him, Makoto spat out the water she'd taken a mouthful of at exactly the wrong moment, utterly shocked, and Joe's effort to suppress his laughter made his begin to come out his nose, which fortunately for everyone made it harder for him to get at his cell phone camera.

That statement meant that Yamato's ideas of sexuality and sexual mores were several decades or more likely centuries out of date, which might explain why he didn't see anything odd about being attracted to a fellow warrior for his strength so, Hiro thought, it probably was a good thing he hadn't told Yamato that they'd fought and Hiro won in the original timeline. Just not for the reason Hiro'd originally thought.

"You can keep the septentrione as your concubine," Yamato said, which confirmed Hiro's worries about exactly what _kind _of old-fashioned Yamato Hotsuin was, "but _I _will be first among your lovers. I'll kill anyone else who tries to take my place in your affections," he said, as thought it was romantic, and probably in his world of merit it would have been. "No matter how many wives or concubines I have to take to carry on the family line, I will always belong to _you_," he said forcefully, grabbing at the collar of Hiro's jacket and pulling him down so that their lips met, or rather Yamato tried to but he didn't know to tilt his head and so their noses bumped.

"D-Director Hotsuin," Makoto stammered out as Hiro gave in and turned his own face to the side so Yamato bonking their noses together wasn't obvious to the whole room. The loss of face would tilt him even more towards homicidal.

Yamato also clearly knew absolutely nothing about how to kiss, just pressing his lips to Hiro's forcefully before pulling back to tell Makoto, "Let it be known that Hiro's authority over JPs is equal to mine, and from now on he will be treated as a member of the Hotsuin clan. Any employee of mine who disobeys his orders or shows him disrespect?" Yamato smirked. "I would have to apologize for the behavior of my underlings, and I don't like losing face," in front of someone he actually respected, "because of fools." The underling would _wish _he'd just screwed up epically.

"Yessir," she said, more than a little alarmed at the prospect herself. It didn't make her face any less red, watching Hiro and the Director.

Keita was watching with somewhat disturbed interest, clearly finding the whole thing head-tiltingly kinky, the kind of kink that was… weird, but also kind of hot. Keita liked strength and power, and Hiro was powerful. Even Yamato admitted it.

Io was so shocked by the whole thing she'd completely forgotten to keep levitating and Alcor had to lower her to the ground, where she stared.

Hiro wanted to ask if he got any actual choice in the matter, but this was Yamato, so saying no would involve Yamato attacking him to prove his strength and/or trying to kill anyone else he suspected had come between him and Hiro. It would take more time than the days they had left to explain that they were no longer living in the days of _The Tale of Genji_. If Hiro claimed he was only attracted to women, Yamato would just become determined to change the new world into one where everyone was bi.

Hiro would be lying if he said that, though, because Yamato was definitely hot in a homicidal potential stalker way. In a _dangerous _way, but that combination of power, intelligence and ignorant vulnerability was cute, because it made Hiro certain that he could stay in control if he played this game to win. And the world was certainly a safer place for everyone if Yamato was tied up somewhere.

Hiro had never scared easily (aside from Alcor appearing right behind him, but that was being startled, not scared). If anything, he'd started to think that after the world was saved he might start to go crazy from boredom without anything to fight, any challenging people to deal with. Dealing with Yamato would certainly never be boring, especially since Hiro was sure Yamato would be turned on by Hiro demonstrating his strength, and thus go out of his way to make sure Hiro kept proving he was worthy.

"Get a room!" Airi finally interrupted, annoyed. Yamato didn't have to rub it in everyone's faces!

Hiro thought that not having to deal with the audience as well as Yamato was an excellent idea, so he took Yamato's hand and dragged him out of the room.

Alcor floated after them. He knew enough to know that it would be rude to point it out in that moment, but humans were so interesting. He could understand a little of Yamato's feelings, of wishing someone would be his master because they would be a far better one. Was it compassion which made Yamato create the seal that bound Alcor long enough for him to listen to the Shining One, or had he done it solely in service to the Shining One? Either way, Alcor owed him a great debt. Alcor hadn't thought that humans needed or wanted masters in the same way, but perhaps the Hotsuin family, whose fate had been influenced by Alcor for so long, had their files contaminated somewhat by his nature? He did hope not, but if that was the case he hoped Yamato Hotsuin was able to become the Shining One's.

The way the Shining One kissed Yamato Hotsuin as soon as Alcor closed the door behind them was a hopeful sign, as was the removing of jackets and other protective layers. Alcor picked them up and folded them neatly: he knew something of what human servants did, after observing the Hotsuin and other humans.

"I can tell him to disappear," Hiro told Yamato when they were down to their underwear and Yamato had been kissed enough to understand what exactly was good about it and start doing more of that, "but he's still always watching over me."

"Good," Yamato said, and scratched his nails down Hiro's back again, driving him to move away from the sharp things and down against Yamato's body.

Yamato wouldn't have been the true leader of JPs at this age no matter who he was if he hadn't been a quick learner.


	5. Chapter 5

At the meeting about Mizer the next morning, Yamato was clearly gloating. All of them liked Hiro, although Keita would strongly deny it, and Yamato was the one Hiro wanted out of all of them. _He _was. If any of them wanted one of the remaining pieces of Hiro, they would have to either get past him or get his approval first.

Speaking of which, "Io Nitta, I want to speak with you after the meeting about the Dragon Stream. The rest of you, find something to do or parts of Mizer to kill. Just do whatever Hiro tells you," or else. Yamato got up and walked out, since the rest of what the civilians got up to wasn't his concern as long as they played their parts in the operation.

Keita smiled. He loved the way Yamato thought. When he grew up, he was totally working for JPs: it was even better than boxing because he had to hold back and avoid fatal moves in boxing. Sure, there wouldn't be as many demons around once this was over, but there were still lots of powerful ones sealed away, like Shiva and Lugh.

"Joe, would you mind going with Makoto to visit Ronaldo?" Hiro asked, taking over. "Daichi too, since you'll be working out supply transport and the supplies should have a demon tamer to guard them." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Since they'll handle Nagoya; Airi and Jungo, would you two mind going to Osaka and staying by the terminal? With Keita and Hinako, the four of you should be able to fight back any big breaches in the defense line Mizer makes, and if you're all in one place then you can be called in as soon as there's a threat too big for JPs to handle. That way, you'll get better fights than just roaming around like the regular officers and tamers," he added for Keita's benefit.

* * *

"Director Hotsuin?" Yamato's secretary said, hitting the intercom button. "Miss Nitta is here to see you."

"Send her in."

Io tried not to look down at her hands or twist them together nervously: he'd already said that annoyed him. Actually, what he'd said was that she cared about and was willing to work hard for others, and probably had good people skills like Hiro, but her fatal flaw was allowing her lack of courage to thwart her ambitions. Or something. Yamato had meant it as a compliment and as advice, she was certain, and Hiro, Airi and Hinako all agreed that she should speak her own mind more, but Yamato had been very… Yamato when she'd tried to work up the courage to ask him why he had wanted a world where the strong ruled. Although she thought it made more sense after last afternoon. Hearing Yamato talk about wanting Hiro to do things to him was, um… It made her wish that she'd worked up the courage to talk to Hiro months ago. If he was even interested in girls, especially girls like her. She'd heard Daichi say something like, "So that's why he wasn't all that interested in spying on the health exam," before Joe laughed and dragged him out of the room they'd played dodgeball in.

Even if he did like girls, she was so shy, and ordinary: she thought she'd heard him say that she was cute before they'd talked at the subway station, but that could have just been wistful thinking. It probably was.

"Nitta," Yamato said, nodding to her and putting his papers down. "Sit down."

She sat in the chair in front of his desk, crossing her legs at the ankles and realizing that this was Yamato being courteous, for Yamato. Otherwise, he probably would have wanted her to stay standing so that she would leave even a second faster.

"You don't have any outstanding betrothal contracts?"

"What?" she asked.

"You aren't engaged and your parents aren't pursuing any negotiations?"

"Well, no, but…" Io tried to find words to explain that it wasn't normal anymore, really. Well, outside things like traditional families, high-level businesses… the world Yamato would have been groomed for, which was apparently very different from the civilian world.

"Good. Look these over." He slid some papers across the desk to her. "There will be some objections: they've wanted me to make an alliance with another of the four great summoner clans, but your ability to channel and use the power of gods for yourself can't be argued with."

She blushed, because coming from Yamato it really was a compliment to be told that she was powerful and had a rare ability, but, "What is this?"

"A betrothal contract and prenuptial agreement. The terms are better for both of us than the ones people usually make as their opening proposals to me." Apparently they thought he was an idiot and wanted a wife who would have every reason to loathe him for being treated like more of a brood mare than necessary. "One child for my clan, one for your heir, and the rest of our relations are at your discretion. I've been told they have technology nowadays."

He'd been told about what she presumed was artificial insemination but not that this wasn't exactly a normal proposal to make?

That was when Io realized that this was a proposal. As in he'd just proposed to her? "Why? I thought you liked Hiro."

"Yes, and so do you," he pointed out. "I'm talking about marriage." Love was entirely different. "Since we're not creating a new world, the Hotsuin clan will continue to be needed to protect this country, even if it will still be full of ungrateful fools. Also, Dr. Otome tells me that Hiro likes and gets along well with children. Hiro is of no particular bloodline despite his superior quality, but there's no way your parents could object to a match to me." With his ancient clan and wealth. "Unless you think you'll have grown enough backbone by the time they're revived to overrule them?" Yamato seemed to think that was possible, so, "Keep the papers, this will give you another option."

"Thank you for the thought," she finally told him, because she was sure that was another compliment and giving her a means of getting out of an unwanted arranged marriage was kind of him, but, "It doesn't work that way anymore for most people. I don't have to marry who I'm told to marry. And I'm really too young to be thinking of that yet. You don't have to either." He did know that, right?

"Of course I do. I'm the last Hotsuin." He had a responsibility to the clan and to this nation.

"But you're a year younger than I am."

"And you're practically an old maid. You're lucky no one saw Hiro's potential before this." Otherwise, a clear-thinking patriarch would have had one of his younger daughters snap him up, and then where would she be? "Be grateful I'm willing to let you be my wife instead of just a concubine."

"Old maid? I'm not even out of high school yet." But a century ago… "And no one has concubines anymore."

"Maybe commoners don't, but the only reason I don't is that I don't have a wife yet and it's obvious that all of them would be trying to distract me by making me fall in love with them and grant them that status." Yamato rolled his eyes: as though he would allow something like that to sway him.

Hiro didn't count.

Io suddenly found herself beginning to grasp how big a problem Hiro was going to have explaining normal to Yamato. He really had no idea what the world outside JPs and his particular subculture and tutors was like, did he? He hadn't played with other kids, or gone over to their houses: there were all sorts of things about how the world worked that everyone knew but Yamato wouldn't, because when would he ever have found them out? He'd be interpreting everything everyone told him in the context of a view of the world that was just wrong, too. He'd learned dealing with people from subordinates and employees, plus old books from the time Japan still had what amounted to a caste system? That was based on birth, not merit? Where samurai could use farmers for killing practice?

No wonder Yamato thought the world was such a messed-up place, when he'd lost his parents too. She wanted to help him understand that it wasn't like that anymore, but where to start?

Well, she could ask Hiro, but since Hiro was Yamato's boyfriend now, for his sake she should start with how normal marriages and so on worked. On the other hand, well, would Yamato really care, since he and Hiro wouldn't be normal anyway? She really couldn't imagine Yamato as a normal person.

Yet even though he intimidated her, he was still… Yamato. "Yamato… I think that Hiro is right, that all of us have certainly lived this before. Isn't that why we all feel so close to each other? Daichi thinks it's why he was so brave the first day, crashing that truck off the railway to kill Dubhe. I'm certain that he would have grown brave before, but if Polaris kept overwriting it? I think… I feel certain that we've become friends before, don't you? Would you really have made an offer like this otherwise?" To a stranger, to a too-shy, too-weak civilian? "There's Keita, who is so standoffish, but I wonder if that is because he kept going from having us, having a family, to being a bitter orphan again. It must hurt him, I think, even if he doesn't remember it, so of course he doesn't want to make friends. That's why Jungo tries so hard for him, because he knows Keita is a good person. I know that I, I think I have feelings for Hiro," she said, hoping Yamato wouldn't be jealous, "And I wonder if I was ever brave enough some cycle that you had feelings for me." If she was ever the one to get through to Yamato, trying to stop the conflict, finding the bravery to confront him within herself.

"Maybe in some cycles Ronaldo joined JPs as a civilian volunteer, to understand and get close to you, become your friend like Hiro did and then he went back to thinking that you killed his mentor again. Felt betrayed by you because of those buried memories. When I think of all of us losing those bonds, over and over, of seeing my parents die again and again, I hate Polaris." She truly did, enough to call up the divine spear of light that killed Balor of the Evil Eye. "All of us are family, and I know we remembered that somehow. Maybe it was our bonds to each other that let Hiro remember the last cycle, and let you feel that he was important to you. I know I felt the same, but you were the one who did something different, let those bonds move you first. Bonds between people have to be important, or why would Alcor make the fate viewer? I don't think they're something that can be deleted so easily." Not when she had almost instantly become as close to Hiro as Daichi was.

Yamato seemed to think she was on to something, even if she seemed to think that insignificant Ronaldo could have ever taken Hiro's place by Yamato's side. "You are wise in interpersonal matters, despite your weakness in avoiding confrontation. We should ask Alcor about the significance of the fate viewer. I intend to kill Polaris this time, but if becoming closer to others would help Hiro succeed next time even if we fail now…" Yamato would have to share, but, "Right now… You're right, I felt willing to share like this," to let Io be connected to Hiro through him, "Only because it's you." Just like Hiro, a few days wouldn't be enough to convince him that the civilian schoolgirl was as worthy as all that.

She blushed a little, because that was quite a compliment. "Thank you."

* * *

Hinako looked at her cell phone, then at one of the Mizers. Then back to her cell phone. "Hey, Alcor?"

"Yes?" he said, floating closer to her. Hiro had eventually insisted on fighting the Mizers to stay in practice too.

"Do you know anything about the legends about your star?"

"Yes?"

"Because I've noticed that the Ticos are purple and white, and you and Mizer used to be a symbol of marriage."

Alcor looked sad. "I was his companion star, but that was before I was separated and put to sleep because I disagreed with Polaris."

"So are they septentriones or AI?" Hinako wondered. Were they really Mizer's kids, was it a coincidence or wistful thinking?

"Yes," Alcor answered.

"What?"

"Yes," he repeated himself, nodding. "Well, if our existence relies on the definition of artificial intelligences." After answering her question, he floated back over to Hiro.

Hinako gave up.

* * *

"No," Hiro told Ronaldo and Yamato firmly. Why, why had he ever thought getting the two fanatics to team up would be a good idea?

"But," Ronaldo protested.

"No," Hiro repeated himself. Again.

"We have control of Alcor, we can edit the moral system after it's implemented," Yamato pointed out.

"Still no. And _I _have control of Alcor, so stop trying to convince him to make me God-Emperor of mankind, dammit Yamato. And Japan already has an emperor descended from a god, and no, I'm not replacing him." Japan's dynasty had outlasted those of China and the fellow god-emperors of Egypt because they weren't just chosen by gods, they were living gods descended from Amaterasu and outsiders were allowed to marry in. They'd been overthrown and Japan ruled by other clans and warlords lots of times, but instead of the emperors getting executed they'd get married: the new rulers wanted that divine blood for themselves, after all, and emperors marrying, oh, Hotsuins for generation after generation would make the emperor a Hotsuin. Exactly whose brilliant idea had it been to teach Yamato traditional values? Even though in this case, it was the future shogun himself who wanted to marry the emperor.

Ronaldo almost swore: couldn't Hiro see that, "This is our chance to recreate the world as a paradise!"

"I don't want a paradise." Paradise would be boring. "I want the same world _we _built, and so does Alcor. If we want to change the world, we're going to have to do it the hard way, like everyone else."

"The Hotsuin clan has tried to change this country, has given their lives for this country, and the police have tried to clean up the streets, and we still have crime and a cowardly government ruled by short-sighted selfishness!" Yamato protested.

"No, Jungo," Airi said in the background, annoyed. "I don't want chawanmushi."

"Make us some damn popcorn!" Keita demanded.

Jungo smiled, happy to be asked to do something for his friend. He put the chawanmushi on the ground for his cat Jungo to eat. Jungo liked chawanmushi, and Jungo liked making it.

"Here you go," Airi said when it arrived, passing a bowl up to Alcor.

"Thank you, Child of Possibility," the septentrione said, watching the debate. "Humans are so interesting."

"What do you think, Keita?" Airi asked.

Keita nodded, then explained after he finished chewing his handful of popcorn, "I think Hiro's right: we shouldn't have Alcor do it, we should overthrow the government ourselves, with our demons."

"I don't think that's exactly what he meant, but…" When her father had to fake his death and go into hiding because the government he'd served as a cop was trying to have him killed? Airi would have fought her friends for the sake of a better world: she definitely didn't have any problems with fighting some politicians. "Now that I think about it…"

"Yamato knows how to _run_ an army, and Ronaldo managed to get one together pretty quick and kick JPs out of your base," Keita said thoughtfully.

The issue wasn't whether or not they _could _take over the world: both of them were sure they could, with Hiro on their side. Nor was it whether or not they should. The question was whether or not Hiro would go along with it.

Maybe if someone kept him distracted so he didn't find out and stop them? They'd still need to figure out some way to convince him to actually rule it, though.

"…Let's go kill some more MIzers," Keita said finally. He was kind of wondering if they really _had _to use the dragon stream to wipe them out. An endless supply of punching bags _was _pretty fun. On the other hand, they were supposed to get an even tougher one tomorrow, and he was looking forward to that. He didn't want small fry distracting him while they fought. It was annoying that they had to take Jungo with them, but Airi had pointed out that when they didn't, Jungo would always run off and end up in a fight against way-too-tough opponents and nearly get himself killed and Keita didn't want all the good fights to be wasted on this idiot. Hopefully his stupidity would be useful and he'd drag them into some of the good training kind of trouble again.

* * *

The trouble with restoring the world and bringing people back to life somewhat gradually and with all their memories intact instead of just rewinding to the last restore point was that people noticed that the epicenter of no-longer-being-devoured-by-void was Japan's cities. Even though foreign nations hadn't known about Yamato Hotsuin or the dragon stream defense system before, Japan's government had to provide an explanation _now_. After more than ninety-nine percent of the world was destroyed by eldritch abominations, now everyone wanted barriers for their cities.

Hiro couldn't escape being dragged into the limelight with him, since Yamato wasn't going to take Hiro's credit (or miss the chance to brag about wonderful his Hiro was). It was obvious that they should try to hide Alcor, but equally obvious that Alcor's… Alcorness didn't lend itself very well to keeping secrets. It had been very obvious as soon as Hiro met him that he wasn't human, and before long it was obvious that he wasn't a demon either. Even though Io had been happy to return the favor of being taught how to control her levitation by teaching him how to walk properly instead of floating along.

Since hiding him wasn't really possible, they were lucky that 'demon' included so many categories that by just introducing him as though there wasn't anything to hide they had managed to escape saying anything besides that he was the Hotsuin clan's guardian kami, Hiro's contracted demon and the creator of Nicaea. The world assumed he had some power to see the future thanks to the death images on the site, and apparently oracles were supposed to be somewhat spacey. His inability to act human was explained by the fact he wasn't human, and most people didn't know demons well enough to know that there were degrees of inhumanity.

(Almost) Everyone's summon app accounts were frozen. Nicaea continued to function by popular demand, although everyone was warned that not only would it only work for the sensitive, but trying to cover the whole world when before the Hotsuin only guarded Japan and worked within Japan's energies would make deaths much harder to predict, especially for such a large population. Still, the amount of deaths caused by things like heart attacks and car crashes immediately dropped.

Hiro suddenly had no more need to worry about entrance exams, or for that matter university fees, even without taking advantage of Yamato's wealth or the donations Nicaea received. The people who saw him as some kind of messiah were worrying, but at least as long as they were worshipping him, they weren't figuring out the truth about Alcor and trying to make him do more with his power as administrator than put everyone back and give people the information they needed to change fate and save lives. It was annoying, but less annoying than the fact even his most powerful demons couldn't damage Dubhe until Daichi took a header off the train tracks.

His biggest problem was Yamato, and how to react to things like Yamato asking if he had any twin fantasies and then tying Alcor up in the seal again and bringing him to Hiro's bed. Of course, a crisis was composed of both danger and opportunity, in this case for a threesome and for showing some affection to a septentrione who was eager to learn and very eager to please such a kind master.

Life managed to be both eventful and peaceful, at least until almost a decade later when the New Genesis Evangelists began a holy crusade to conquer the world in his name and place its fate in his hands. He certainly agreed with Jungo that friends shouldn't fight, but that didn't stop him from kicking Airi, Keita and Ronaldo's asses and tying Yamato to his _own _bed for months. Without anyone else in that bed with him.

Most of the time.


End file.
